Water Policy Vol 9 No 4 pp 393–404 © IWA Publishing 2007 doi:10.2166/wp.2007.016

The Thames catchment: a river basin at the tipping point

Stephen Merrett

“There is nothing so practical as a good theory” Bertrand Russell

The paper recapitulates the theory of catchment water deficits and the use of density analysis previously published in this journal. Thereafter theory and method are applied to the Thames River Basin in England where it is shown that the catchment is marginally in deficit but that future developments in population growth, output growth and climate change require the application of specific redemptive options if a serious deficit situation is to be avoided. In particular, strict house-building controls are called for as well as the universal metering of domestic water use.

Keywords: Catchment water deficit; Demand for water; Environmental flows; Food imports; Groundwater yields; Population density; Thames River Basin; Water evapotranspiration and use

Full article (PDF Format)